NASA image of the day (imatge del dia, NASA)

NASA test pilot Joe Walker took the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) for its first spin 60 years ago today. NASA used the LLRV, also known as the flying bedstead, to train Apollo astronauts for the descent to the Moon's surface.

New Zealand’s stunning scenery has famously provided the backdrop for fictional worlds in fantasy films. A unique cloud that forms over the Otago region of the country’s South Island also evokes the otherworldly, while very much existing in reality.

Space science is fun! NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit fills this sphere of water with food coloring creating a Jupiter-like effect in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station.

The spiral galaxy in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is IC 3225. It looks remarkably as if it was launched from a cannon, speeding through space like a comet with a tail of gas streaming from its disk behind it.

A super blue moon rises above NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Aug. 18, 2024. Although not actually appearing blue, as the third full moon in a season with four full moons, this is called a “blue” moon.

The city lights of Melbourne, Australia are pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 271 miles above.

Nearly four decades ago, astronomers spotted one of the brightest exploding stars in more than 400 years. The titanic supernova, called Supernova 1987A (SN 1987A), blazed with the power of 100 million suns for several months following its discovery on Feb. 23, 1987.

A drone camera captures NASA’s mobile launcher 1 atop the agency’s crawler-transporter 2 moving from Launch Complex 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. The mobile launcher has been at the launch pad since August 2023 undergoing upgrades and tests in preparation for NASA’s Artemis II mission.

The Oort Cloud comet, called C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, passes over Southeast Louisiana near New Orleans, home of NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. The comet is making its first appearance in documented human history; it was last seen in the night sky 80,000 years ago. The Tsuchinshan-ATLAS comet made its first close pass by Earth in mid-October and will remain visible to viewers in the Northern Hemisphere just between the star Arcturus and planet Venus through early November.

An unidentified illustration of NASA's space shuttle. The space shuttle fleet flew 135 missions and helped construct the International Space Station between the first launch on April 12, 1981 and the final landing on July 21, 2011. There were five orbiters: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:06 p.m. EDT on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. After launch, the spacecraft plans to fly by Mars in February 2025, then back by Earth in December 2026, using the gravity of each planet to increase its momentum. With help of these “gravity assists,” Europa Clipper will achieve the velocity needed to reach Jupiter in April 2030.

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was about 44 million miles away from Earth in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 272 miles above the South Pacific Ocean southeast of New Zealand just before sunrise on Sept. 28, 2024.

On New Zealand’s North Island, a conical snow-capped volcano ringed by dark green forest rises above dairy pasture. The often-snowcapped peak of Mount Taranaki is the centerpiece of Egmont National Park. A circular piece of land—with a 9.6-kilometer (6-mile) radius from the volcano’s summit—was first formally protected as a forest reserve in 1881. With some subsequent additions, it became New Zealand’s second national park in 1900.

"It took years but it felt like all of the sudden, I was here and everything, the entire time, was preparing me for my role on the OSIRIS-REx mission. Now, I share a place in history next to a Curation team full of the most talented, intelligent and hard-working individuals in the world and all that we have accomplished is, and will be, a part of NASA forever." —Salvador Martinez III, Lead Astromaterial Curation Engineer, Jacobs Technology, NASA's Johnson Space Center

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, left, and Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Sant Director, Kirk Johnson, preview the Earth Information Center at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, in Washington, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. The exhibit includes a video wall displaying Earth science data visualizations and videos, an interpretive panel showing Earth’s connected systems, information on our changing world, and an overview of how NASA and the Smithsonian study our home planet.

Flying aboard Voyagers 1 and 2 are identical "golden" records, carrying the story of Earth far into deep space. This gold aluminum cover was designed to protect the gold-plated records from micrometeorite bombardment, but also serves a double purpose in providing the finder a key to playing the record.

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station shot this photo of large meanders of the Alabama River while orbiting over the southern United States. The river’s smooth water surface reflects sunlight back toward the astronaut’s camera, producing an optical phenomenon known as sunglint.

Chirag Parikh, Deputy Assistant to the President and Executive Secretary of the National Space Council, left, and NASA Astronauts Frank Rubio, center, and Marcos Berrios, right, speak at a staff engagement event that took place during a White House Hispanic Heritage month on Sept. 30, 2024.

"This is why [Aubrey Gemignani] and I started Faces of NASA: We wanted to make that connection. It's not just rockets, astronauts, and telescopes. Hundreds of thousands of people come together to make these missions possible, and that's the part that's really interesting for me." – Thalia Patrinos, Communications Strategist, PCI Productions, NASA Headquarters

Earlier this year, the Florida Panthers won their first NHL championship and brought victory to the state of Florida. As part of its championship tour, the Stanley Cup made a visit to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday Sept. 17, 2024.